Key to coach Arsene Wenger is left in Van

ALMOST daily on Twitter, Robin van Persie is insistent that he loves Arsenal, his team-mates and the fans. One question, then. Why, with just 18 months left on his contract, has he not signed a new deal?

Arsene Wenger’s future could be shaped by his captain Robin Van Persie []

The answer is simple. The man in the richest vein of form imaginable, with 31 Premier League goals in 29 games this calendar year and 10 in his last five, is keeping his options open.

The world, as Arthur Daley would have said, is Van Persie’s lobster and at 28, his next contract will be the most important of his career. He can earn fortunes elsewhere to pay for expensive crustacean dinners, notably at Manchester City. But above all, being the professional he is, he wants to be where he will win the big prizes.

Manager Arsene Wenger’s recent grenade in an interview in France has not helped.

Wenger may be backtracking quickly but his line that he will consider his future at the end of this season was scarcely designed to encourage Van Persie into believing the Emirates is where he will win those big prizes.

Robin van Persie is insistent that he loves Arsenal, his team-mates and the fans

You even sense Wenger himself begins to doubt it, such is the subtext of his musing aloud to L’Equipe. You sense, too, his growing weariness at the modern English game’s excesses.

While he admires Manchester United, with Sir Alex Ferguson at least having built great sides organically, Wenger dislikes Chelsea and their way of buying success. Now Manchester City have doubled that distaste.

On top of that, Wenger has been affected this year like never before by criticism of his team’s frailties and playing style and his own recruitment policies from media and fans alike and, unusually, he has bitten back.

While he would never say so publicly, it does prompt the thought that he might feel a contempt for the monstrous ingratitude of a minority of the Arsenal support in particular and English football, which he has so enriched for 15 years, in general.

Throw in the departure of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri and it becomes clear that, at the age of 62, it is simply human to nurse concerns about the future. It is surely why senior FA figures are nurturing hopes anew he might just finally give in and consider the England manager’s job.

Naturally, he would take some persuading, never having signed enough English players to show any real admiration for them. Also, having said the job should go to a native, he may one day prefer to manage France.

But as the interview in L’Equipe shows, when he drops his guard, Wenger might have thoughts at odds with the expected public pronouncements.

Soon, games against the bigger clubs will arrive to test Arsenal’s recent revival and their longer-term potential. What will also determine Wenger’s longer-term thinking is the future of Van Persie.

Both manager and his new leader on the pitch seem to be waiting for the other to commit. Should Van Persie go, it may well fuel any disillusion within Wenger at the modern game.

Thus it makes sense for England to wait until the end of the season before contemplating Fabio Capello’s successor. After all, the last dance is the best time to ask the prettiest girl to take the floor.

Follow Ian Ridley on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@IanRidley1ON THE TIMEBOMB TICKING DOWN FOR WENGER